Baby boomers

own nearly half of all privately-held businesses with employees in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The problem

As baby boomer business owners retire, our local business landscape is poised to go through a dramatic shift. With boomers owning about half of all privately-held businesses in the Bay Area, we will see a massive ownership changeover of locally-held businesses as the ‘Silver Tsunami’ of retirements approaches.

The vast majority (over 85%) of business owners do not have a succession plan in place, and increasingly, many are finding it hard to find a buyer when they are ready to sell.

As a result, some of these companies will quietly close down, a very small percent will be passed on to family members, others will sell to another local owner, and some will be sold to a larger company or out of area buyer. Those in this last category will likely lay off employees and will further concentrate ownership and wealth.

We have the opportunity to keep many of these businesses locally-owned for the long term and to deepen their positive impact on our local economy.

How? By helping them transition to broad-based employee ownership.

Why does this matter?

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, making up 99% of all firms and providing 49% of jobs in California. Locally owned businesses circulate three times more money back into the local economy than absentee-owned firms or chain businesses. And local businesses are based on local relationships, fostering trust and civic engagement.

Employee ownership extends the legacy of these businesses while deepening their impact in our community. By selling businesses to the employees businesses remain anchored in the region while continuing to provide good jobs, enhance access to wealth and promote entrepreneurship.

What can we do about it?

We can all play a role in keeping businesses local and promoting employee ownership.

Raise awareness of the problem

We hear about the impact of baby boomer retirements on health care and on employment, but there is low awareness of the impact on local business ownership. Please share this information with your city government and others who can help.

Project Equity clients:

A Slice of New York

Nile’s Pie

Download the infographic

What Project Equity does

As a national organization, Project Equity advocates for and raises awareness of broad-based, democratic employee ownership, and we support businesses in transitioning to this highly beneficial business model. We are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and through amazing local partners, we support this work in regions across the country.

The Industrial Commons, our partner with offices across Western North Carolina, formed in 2015 in response to a need to provide resources and support to firms and networks in a way that improves livelihoods and roots wealth in communities in Western North Carolina.

Nexus, our partners in the Twin Cities region works with community-based organizations in low-wealth areas to support them in creating communities that reflect the vision and creativity of the people who live and work there.

Together, we partner with business networks, cities and regional organizations to provide information about the Silver Tsunami of business owner retirements and how employee ownership works as a succession planning strategy.

We help selling business owners assess the fit between their business goals and this approach, and, for those who move forward, we work with the owner and employees to structure and operationalize a successful transition to employee ownership and an effective ownership culture.